The need for excellence centres in clinical imaging

First paragraph: Within the UK there is a growing demand for clinical imaging and scanning. This demand is attributable to both a rapid advance in clinical (diagnostic) imaging technology over the last 30 years, and imaging being at the forefront of prediction, prevention, diagnosis and monitoring disease pathways

Bjerknes-like Compensation in the Wintertime North Pacific

Observational and model evidence has been mounting that mesoscale eddies play an important role in air–sea interaction in the vicinity of western boundary currents and can affect the jet stream storm track. What is less clear is the interplay between oceanic and atmospheric meridional heat transport in the vicinity of western boundary currents. It is first shown that variability in the North Pacific, particularly in the Kuroshio Extension region, simulated by a high-resolution fully coupled version of the Community Earth System Model matches observations with similar mechanisms and phase relationships involved in the variability. The Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) is correlated with sea surface height anomalies generated in the central Pacific that propagate west preceding Kuroshio Extension variability with a ~3–4-yr lag. It is then shown that there is a near compensation of O(0.1) PW (PW ≡ 10^(15) W) between wintertime atmospheric and oceanic meridional heat transport on decadal time scales in the North Pacific. This compensation has characteristics of Bjerknes compensation and is tied to the mesoscale eddy activity in the Kuroshio Extension region

Pregnancy Outcome in Swiss-Webster Mice Infected With Chlamydia trachomatis

Objective: The objective of this study was to observe pregnancy outcomes in mice infected transvaginally with Chlamydia trachomatis

Southern Ocean Overturning Compensation in an Eddy-Resolving Climate Simulation

The Southern Ocean’s Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and meridional overturning circulation (MOC) response to increasing zonal wind stress is, for the first time, analyzed in a high-resolution (0.1° ocean and 0.25° atmosphere), fully coupled global climate simulation using the Community Earth System Model. Results from a 20-yr wind perturbation experiment, where the Southern Hemisphere zonal wind stress is increased by 50% south of 30°S, show only marginal changes in the mean ACC transport through Drake Passage—an increase of 6% [136–144 Sverdrups (Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 10^6 m^3 s^(−1))] in the perturbation experiment compared with the control. However, the upper and lower circulation cells of the MOC do change. The lower cell is more affected than the upper cell with a maximum increase of 64% versus 39%, respectively. Changes in the MOC are directly linked to changes in water mass transformation from shifting surface isopycnals and sea ice melt, giving rise to changes in surface buoyancy forcing. The increase in transport of the lower cell leads to upwelling of warm and salty Circumpolar Deep Water and subsequent melting of sea ice surrounding Antarctica. The MOC is commonly supposed to be the sum of two opposing components: a wind- and transient-eddy overturning cell. Here, the transient-eddy overturning is virtually unchanged and consistent with a large-scale cancellation of localized regions of both enhancement and suppression of eddy kinetic energy along the mean path of the ACC. However, decomposing the time-mean overturning into a time- and zonal-mean component and a standing-eddy component reveals partial compensation between wind-driven and standing-eddy components of the circulation

14-3-3 σ Expression Effects G2/M Response to Oxygen and Correlates with Ovarian Cancer Metastasis

In vitro cell culture experiments with primary cells have reported that cell proliferation is retarded in the presence of ambient compared to physiological O₂ levels. Cancer is primarily a disease of aberrant cell proliferation, therefore, studying cancer cells grown under ambient O₂ may be undesirable. To understand better the impact of O₂ on the propagation of cancer cells in vitro, we compared the growth potential of a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines under ambient (21%) or physiological (3%) O₂.Our observations demonstrate that similar to primary cells, many cancer cells maintain an inherent sensitivity to O₂, but some display insensitivity to changes in O₂ concentration. Further analysis revealed an association between defective G2/M cell cycle transition regulation and O₂ insensitivity resultant from overexpression of 14-3-3 σ. Targeting 14-3-3 σ overexpression with RNAi restored O₂ sensitivity in these cell lines. Additionally, we found that metastatic ovarian tumors frequently overexpress 14-3-3 σ, which in conjunction with phosphorylated RB, results in poor prognosis.Cancer cells show differential proliferative sensitivity to changes in O₂ concentration. Although a direct link between O₂ insensitivity and metastasis was not determined, this investigation showed that an O₂ insensitive phenotype in cancer cells to correlate with metastatic tumor progression

Effects of Sodium Bicarbonate Supplementation on Muscular Strength and Endurance: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

© 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Background: The effects of sodium bicarbonate on muscular strength and muscular endurance are commonly acknowledged as unclear due to the contrasting evidence on the topic. Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies exploring the acute effects of sodium bicarbonate supplementation on muscular strength and endurance. Methods: A search for studies was performed using five databases. Meta-analyses of standardized mean differences (SMDs) were performed using a random-effects model to determine the effects of sodium bicarbonate supplementation on muscular strength (assessed by changes in peak force [N], peak torque [N m], or maximum load lifted [kg]) and muscular endurance (assessed by changes in the number of repetitions performed, isokinetic total work, or time to maintain isometric force production). Subgroup meta-analyses were conducted for the muscular endurance of small vs. large muscle groups and muscular strength tested in a rested vs. fatigued state. A random-effects meta-regression analysis was used to explore possible trends in the effects of: (a) timing of sodium bicarbonate ingestion; and (b) acute increase in blood bicarbonate concentration (from baseline to pre-exercise), on muscular endurance and muscular strength. Results: Thirteen studies explored the effects of sodium bicarbonate on muscular endurance and 11 on muscular strength. Sodium bicarbonate supplementation was found to be ergogenic for muscular endurance (SMD = 0.37; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.15, 0.59; p = 0.001). The performance-enhancing effects of sodium bicarbonate were significant for both small (SMD = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.59; p = 0.025) and large muscle groups (SMD = 0.40; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.66; p = 0.003). Sodium bicarbonate ingestion was not found to enhance muscular strength (SMD = − 0.03; 95% CI: − 0.18, 0.12; p = 0.725). No significant effects were found regardless of whether the testing was carried out in a rested (SMD = 0.02; 95% CI: − 0.09, 0.13; p = 0.694) or fatigued (SMD = − 0.16; 95% CI: − 0.59, 0.28; p = 0.483) state. No significant linear trends in the effects of timing of sodium bicarbonate ingestion or acute increase in blood bicarbonate concentrations on muscular endurance or muscular strength were found. Conclusions: Overall, sodium bicarbonate supplementation acutely improves muscular endurance of small and large muscle groups, but no significant ergogenic effect on muscular strength was found

Southern Ocean Overturning Compensation in an Eddy-Resolving Climate Simulation

The Southern Ocean’s Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and meridional overturning circulation (MOC) response to increasing zonal wind stress is, for the first time, analyzed in a high-resolution (0.1° ocean and 0.25° atmosphere), fully coupled global climate simulation using the Community Earth System Model. Results from a 20-yr wind perturbation experiment, where the Southern Hemisphere zonal wind stress is increased by 50% south of 30°S, show only marginal changes in the mean ACC transport through Drake Passage—an increase of 6% [136–144 Sverdrups (Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 10^6 m^3 s^(−1))] in the perturbation experiment compared with the control. However, the upper and lower circulation cells of the MOC do change. The lower cell is more affected than the upper cell with a maximum increase of 64% versus 39%, respectively. Changes in the MOC are directly linked to changes in water mass transformation from shifting surface isopycnals and sea ice melt, giving rise to changes in surface buoyancy forcing. The increase in transport of the lower cell leads to upwelling of warm and salty Circumpolar Deep Water and subsequent melting of sea ice surrounding Antarctica. The MOC is commonly supposed to be the sum of two opposing components: a wind- and transient-eddy overturning cell. Here, the transient-eddy overturning is virtually unchanged and consistent with a large-scale cancellation of localized regions of both enhancement and suppression of eddy kinetic energy along the mean path of the ACC. However, decomposing the time-mean overturning into a time- and zonal-mean component and a standing-eddy component reveals partial compensation between wind-driven and standing-eddy components of the circulation